Friday Racing Action

A few alumni and one freshman had additional opportunities to compete last Friday.

Time to jump back to cross country for a moment. On Friday, Columbia freshman Brian Zabilski and Cornell alum Max King represented Team USA at the 2nd PanAm Cross Country Championships in Vargas, Venezuela. Both men scored for Team USA in their respective races. This is the first time that Team USA has participated in the cross country regional championships since it was founded in 2015. Zabiliski finished as Team USA’s third man in the junior 8km race, finishing 6th overall in 26:51.95. The race was won by Daniel Ferreira of Team Brazil in 26:05.37. King finished as the second American and third overall in the senior 10km race in 31:42.56. The race was won by Team USA’s Donald Cowart in 31:19.56, followed by Brazil’s Gilberto Silvestre in 31:35.90.

Also on Friday, a number of Heps alumni competed at the Armory Worlds Last Chance Meet in New York City. Unfortunately, none of our athletes made the IAAF Indoor World Championship standards, but many of them did well in the competitive fields. Brown alum Erik Berg won the men’s 3,000m with a lifetime best of 8:24.41 – his first 3,000m race since his sophomore year at Brown. He held of Princeton alumni Michael Palmisano (2nd – 8:25.20) and George Galasso (3rd – 8:25.64). Columbia alumna Nadia Eke (Ghana) easily won the triple jump with a distance of 44-03 1/4 (13.49m). Other Ivy finishers include:

Trina Bills (Columbia/unattached) – 3rd in the 400m (59.00)

Marvellous Iheukwumere (Columbia/Nigeria) – 3rd in the 60m (7.60)

Greta Feldman (Princeton/NYNJ Track Club) – 3rd in the 800m (2:05.88)

Ashley Higginson (Princeton/Sauconey) – 2nd in the 3,000m (9:02.82)

Alexi Pappas (Dartmouth/Greece) – 4th in the 3,000m (9:06.49)

Down in the southern hemisphere, Princeton’s Julia Ratlcliffe won the New Zealand national title in the hammer throw, easily besting her competition by 9 meters. Her winning distance of 65.93 meters is a short of the Olympic qualifying standard of 71.00 meters. Her season’s best is 68.70 meters while her lifetime best is 70.28 meters that she threw back in 2014. Fortunately, she still has until July 11th to reach the standard.

photo from Max King’s facebook

This entry was posted on Monday, March 7th, 2016 at 12:00 pm. It is filed under Alumni, Spotlight.
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